Philosophy 152 Philosophy of Human Nature Darwall
Fall 1996
INTRODUCTION
I. Human beings seem to be very interested in human beings.
literature, films, drama, the human sciences: anthropology, much
of psychology, sociology, economics, etc.
II. Why are we human being so intensely interested in our own
species? Do you agree that this is an interesting question? Note:
if you do, then you must be interested in our own species, since you
are interested in why your species is this way. Anyway, why?
a. self-consciousness? (explains how we can be aware but
not why)
b. desire to understand ourselves? why?
c. desire to see where we fit in the world? meaning of life?
d. desire understand our relation to God? to Nature? to
nature? to other species?
e. important for questions of ethics? What has value? What
are our obligations? A human ideal? (Aristotle, Marx)
f. Other reasons?
III. We might broadly distinguish two kinds of interests:
a. cognitive--the desire to know and understand our species
and its relations to other things.
b. ethical--the desire to live a good life.
IV. Philosophers and thoughtful practitioners of other disciplines
have speculated about humanity from a variety of philosophical
perspectives (metaphysical, ethical, epistemological, religious) for
centuries. In the western tradition, at least since Socrates turned
the attention of Greek thought from questions about the nature of
the universe to philosophical questions about human life. What
are we? What can we know? What is a good human life?
V. We will be reading, thinking about, discussing, and writing
about a number of these ranging from Plato in 4th/5thC BC Athens
to the contemporary biologist E. O. Wilson.
They can be roughly characterized as follows:
A. Metaphysical/Religious Theories of Humanity as part of
a Cosmic Order.
Plato, Aristotle, Mencius, Aquinas.
B. Secular Theories of Humanity as an Object of the
Empirical Sciences
Hume, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Wilson
C. Theories of Human Freedom
Sartre, De Beauvoir
VI. There are, of course, many interesting differences within these
categories.
A. Aristotle/Mencius vs. Plato: Immanence vs.
Transcendence
B. Aristotle/Mencius/Plato vs. Aquinas: Not-explicitly-
religious vs. Religious
C. Hume vs. Marx/Nietzsche: Conservative vs. Radical
VII. And also fascinating themes and parallels.
A. Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre: the subconscious and
self-consciousness
B. Sartre, De Beauvoir: Nonfeminist and Feminist
Existentialism
C. Hume, Wilson: "Invisible Hand" explanations of
apparently transcendental phenomena, e.g. freedom, moral
judgment.
VIII. Syllabus
IX. Requirements
X. If time: Evaluating Arguments